Friday, 22 August 2025

Creamy vegan gnocchi soup with sausage and kale, and on re-reading books

I have found that it is a lot easier to be eating a good meal and discover I have made it before than to start reading a book only to find that I have read part of it before.  Cadry's Creamy vegan gnocchi soup with sausage and kale was added to my bookmarks some years ago.  I was excited to make it this year in May as wintery weather made for starting each day with the heater on and then riding home from work in the dark evenings.  This cosy warming soup was exactly what I needed.

In my notes about making it I have reflected on all sorts of minutiae of life happening over the times I have made this soup: Sylvia chatting to a customer at the counter in the op shop where she is volunteering, recycling bottles in the machines that suck up the bottles and spit out a payment voucher in return, losing my purse after buying doughnuts and a kind soul dropping it off at my house, returning home from the op shop with a new wood, cane and tapestry lounge chair that reminded me of the lounge suite in my grandmother's home, and meeting up with a lecturer and friends from my Masters course.  Good memories.

When I made the soup this May I had a niggling feeling that I had made it before.  Yet I could not find it in my photos or blog.  Strangely enough I later stumbled on photos from when I made it in July 2024.  Even now I have a feeling I have made it even earlier than that.  Last year I lightly toasted the gnocchi under the grill but I am sure I made it previously when I baked the gnocchi as directed by Cadry.  When was that?

I love how my blog stores my memories of meals and so much more.  This soup is a great example of how I have taken notes on the changes I made to a recipe each time I made it.  But the longer I blog, the harder it gets to organise the memories of all the fantastic recipes that I make.  There are so many that I want to make again and again until they are ready to blog about.

It's a bit like books.  The older I get, the more books I want to read.  And the more books I want to read, the less time I have for them.  So when a week ago I finally started a book from my to-read pile, I could not believe that niggling feeling that I had already read it.  But not all of it.  So then I had to work out which of of the detective stories I had read in Philip Pullman's Whodunit collection.  Argh!  It is so much easier to eat good meals over and over again than accidentally reread good books.


But like good meals, my accidental rereading made me think of the books that I choose to reread over and over with years in between each reading: Tirra Lirra by the River, Housekeeping, A Monster Calls and the K.M. Peyton's Pennington and Flambards trilogies.  They have moments that frame how I see my life and when I reread the books, the stories take me back to different times in my life.  I miss reading so much at the moment.  I miss escaping into other  worlds and perspectives.  However I also have meals that I love for the memories that they evoke: the meals I have made over and over and those that are becoming part of the fabric of my life.

I can see this gnocchi soup creeping into my life with it's creamy come-hither cashew sauce.  It is really really good.  I don't usually like the taste of dairy sauces and Sylvia does not like the way her stomach reacts to dairy sauces.  The cashews work for us.  My high speed blender makes them so smooth you would never know it is filled with crunchy nuts.

Each time I have added the cashew cream to the soup, it feels like it is too thin.  It isn't.  The taste is so velvety and unctuous, in the best way possible.  It is comforting like a warm snuggly blanket.  I love it thin like a rich broth but it thickens as it cools and by the following day is almost more like a stew.  When I first made it, the flavour was a bit lacking so I added mustard and miso which made it taste like heaven.  A little umami is always welcome in a meal.


We have tweaked the recipe in other ways.  I use more sausages than Cadry.  We love them.  I find it easier and kinder to the stockpot to grill them while I prepare.  I also have tried her idea of baking the gnocchi and don't see the advantage.  These days I just add gnocchi straight from a shelf stable packet.  (I would not dare use fresh gnocchi which the gnocchi man at the market says must be fried.)   

We have been making this meal as seasons cool and it is one of our favourites of this winter.  Today the sun shone, my puffer jacket was too warm and the daffodils were in flower.  Spring will soon be upon us and we will probably make this soup less.  But come next winter, I can see us having a hankering for this cosy warming soup all over again.

More recipes using vegetarian sausages on Green Gourmet Giraffe blog:

Cadry's creamy gnocchi soup with sausage and kale
Adapted from Cadry's Kitchen
Serves 6

  • 6 veggie sausages
  • 1 and 1/2 cups water
  • 3/4 cup raw cashews
  • 1 tbsp white miso
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 large brown onion, chopped
  • 2 tsp garlic granules
  • 1 tsp granulated onion
  • 1 tsp dried
  • 6 cups water
  • 1 tbsp stock powder
  • 1 small bunch of curly kale, in small pieces with ribs removed
  • 1/2 cup (60-70g) sliced sun dried tomatoes
  • 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
  • Generous dash of pepper to taste
  • 500g gnocchi from shelf stable package

Grill sausages until brown and/or crisp outside.  While they are cooking, prepare other ingredients.  Once sausages are done, slice them in about 1 cm slices and then slice again on the vertical to make rustic chunks.

Blend cashews and miso with water to make a creamy sauce.  I use a high powered blender but if you are using a regular blender you should soak them for a few hours. 

Fry onion in oil in a stockpot over medium for about 5 minutes or until soft.  Stir in chopped sausages and seasonings, then water and stock powder.  Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer.

Add chopped kale, sundried tomatoes, gnocchi and seasoning to taste.  Bring to the boil and reduce to a simmer.  Pour in the cashew mixture.  Stir well and simmer for two to five minutes so all the flavours mix well.  Serve.

Notes:

  • Although there are quite a few ingredients, it helps to break them down into small steps.
  • I used Veggie Delights sausages which have very little oil. Other brands should work too.
  • To prepare the kale I prefer to pull it off the ribs by hand, breaking it into bite sized pieces as i go.  This means no chopping but you can slice it up if you prefer.  Then pile it into a colander and rinse before adding to the soup.
  • There are many variations.  I have tried it with nutritional yeast flakes and lemon juice, with mushrooms, with fresh garlic instead of granulated.
  • I used dried mixed Italian herbs until they ran out and the I used dried oregano.  Either works. 
  • Check that the sausages, stock powder and gnocchi suit your dietary needs, either vegetarian, vegan or vegetarian.

Monday, 18 August 2025

Camberwell Sunday Market

Camberwell Market is iconic among all the markets in Melbourne.  It has been running since 1976 and today has over 380 stalls selling vintage, esoteric and pre-loved goods.  Not always cheap but lots of fun.  Having lived in Melbourne so many years, it is surprising that it has taken until a few weeks ago to finally cross the river and visit.  There much fun and beautiful and unique goods.  Here are some photos of what we saw.

Our first stop was for some handkerchiefs of beautiful fabrics and a pin cushion broach.

It was truly a car boot sale with rows of cars with owners sitting  in the open boots.

Some fairy crafting by Shazza from Coburg.

A retro typewriter.  If only I had the room for one. 

All that walking made us hungry for hot doughnut balls filled with jam.

So much old jewellery for Sylvia to sift through.

Rows and rows of pairs of sneakers, bright white and bright colours.


Scarves in many patterns.

Pictures under the winter trees.

Fascinating exposed old parts of stuff that is no longer useful.  Someone must want a castor wheel.

Such a pretty floral chandelier!

Old paintings and old ships.

And more and more!  Bric-a-brac, jewellery, knitted flowers, old DSLR cameras, coronation mugs, keys, tea cups and toiletries.  Most curious is the bucket of copper 1c and 2c coins that are no longer legal tender.  

The market is huge.  We managed to walk around almost two thirds of the stalls before we had to leave because our 2 hour parking spot was about to expire.  The amazing sights, the friendly stallholders and the blue skies made it a wonderful visit.  Sometimes even overwhelming.  I hope to return, perhaps in summer when the trees form a leafy canopy over the stalls.

Camberwell Sunday Market
Market Place, Camberwell
Open every Sunday 7am - 12.30pm
camberwellsundaymarket.org

Wednesday, 13 August 2025

My Monthly Chronicles: July 2025

It has been a quieter July with chilly weather and lots of boxes to unpack after painting the house had left us with less time and inclination to go out.  Which is not to say we did not get out.  Not all of these meals were great: panfried dumplings without a crisp bottom, a toastie with poorly melted cheese and an unsatisfactory soup.  But most of the food was wonderful.  You can read about the good stuff below along with some of the other outings and news during the month.  Above is a meeting of boutique baking and shopping centre food hall cuture that I discuss at the end of the post.  And you can read more about the food we have been eating In My Kitchen.

Luthers Scoops, Brunswick

We were out in the evening to see a light show in Brunswick.  It was a good opportunity to stop on the way at Luthers Scoops on Blyth Street in Brunswick to share a Rhubarb and custard piewith carrot cake ice cream.  I would have liked a bit more rhubarb but it was an excellent way to warm up on a winter's  night.

Listening to Triple J's Hottest Australian 100: The ABC's youth radio station held a vote for the Hottest Australian 100 that was played in an exciting countdown one Saturday in July.  I was sad I missed it because I thought it was on a Sunday.  But I had lots of fun seeing people's lists, dreaming of who I would vote for if I could get organised and reacting to who was in the top 100.  I can see the appeal of INX's Never Tear Us Apart that was number 1 but I was far more excited to see songs by The Church, Paul Kelly, The Go-Betweens, Missy Higgins, The Whitlams, and I really wanted The Triffids' Wide Open Road to be no 1.  So many memories and fun articles.

Around the Block Winter Screenings, Next Wave, Brunswick

We were rugged up for the Around the Block Screenings.  Four small galleries got together to organised some night light shows of artwork projected outdoors.  To launch it, they held a walking tour where the artists spoke at each venue (all clustered around the Sydney Rd and Glenlyon st intersection).  Above is a welcome at the first venue on the tour, Next Wave Gallery270 Sydney Rd where they also had mulled wine for sale and bowls of popcorn and pretzels to snack on.  It was a great way to see the work of local artists. 

Around the Block Winter Screenings, Michelle Guglielmo Park, Brunswick

My favourite of the four projects was showing light projects of artworks was "The Wurundjeri Seasons" project by Little Projector Compnay in Michelle Guglielmo Park at 260 Sydney Rd.  The projects were interesting with the background of a graffiti-ed brick wall. The colours and images of the changing seasons were quite mesmerising and peaceful.  It was also nice to go out and see some Indigenous art to celebrate NAIDOC week.


Around the Block Winter Screenings, BlakDot Gallery, Brunswick

Another set of Indigenous light projections was "Look to See" by April Phillips at Blak Dot Gallery,  It went for a long time (maybe hours) and we stayed for a while but it was cold and Sylvia was keen to get home.  I have only recently become aware of BlakDot gallery at 33 Saxon Street and enjoyed the opportunity to see some of their work.

Watching on the telly: Patience and Pernille I can highly recommend two series that we watched in July.  Patience is a British detective show where the main DI is assisted by a young woman with autism.  It is heartening how it finds so much positive about neurodivergence though it is a little clunky at times.  I really loved the diversity of the main characters and their relationshiips.  Pernille is a homely Norwegian drama that explores relationships across three generations with the main character (Pernille) being a regular woman with lots to celebrate in the midst of all her challenges and the woes of the world.

Barista basics course, East Brunswick

I took Sylvia to a 3 hour Barista basics course at Genovese Coffee, 51 Moreland Rd.  She loves her coffee and when a friend referred us, it sounded like a good activity for a teenager who is looking to put together a resume.  I sat through some of it and what I heard was very detailed and gave a really good basis for making coffee in a cafe.  

I could not help reflecting on how little of this I knew when I made coffees with an espresso machine in a cafe in my student days.  Fortunately it was at a time when people's expectations of coffee were low.  Unfortunately it was when it was ok to have to wear a t-shirt proclaiming "I've had a hot Italian" at the front and the brand of coffee at the back!

Queen Victoria Market Night Market, CBD

The Queen Vic Night Market is one of Melbourne's popular winter tourist attractions but, even so, I was surprised and disturbed at how crazily busy it has become.  We drove in the car from Brunswick because we were already out.  Big mistake!  It took us about 45 minutes to drive what would usually be 20 minutes.  The traffic was so slow that our car stall many times.  When we arrived, we queued to get in and then once inside, it was so full that it was hard to check out all the stalls quickly before deciding where to eat. It seemed that the only way to get any space in that crowded market was to perform as a fire eater   She was very good!  There were Christmas in July style decorations and a snow machine in one corner but I hated it being so crowded.  I could not wait to leave. 

Soup Factory, Queen Victoria Market Night Market, CBD

There was a tyranny of choice when it came to deciding where to eat.  But there was no avoiding the queues.  We were tempted by the arancini, arepas, dumplings, gozleme, and pasta.  Sylvia had her heart set on the soup in a bowl at The Soup Factory.  They had a long queue but it actually moved pretty quickly and was well managed.  I had the vegan lentil soup and Sylvia had the potato and leek.  I was not so keen on the flavours in my soup and wished I had got the potato and leek soup.  The bread rolls were too fluffy and white for my tastes and there was no way we could eat all that bread.  Though they looked pretty cute in the bread pyramid.  It was fun to have soup in a bowl because when we see them on a menu they aren't usually vegetarian. 

Geloso Gelateria, Queen Victoria Market Night Market, CBD

There were lots of tempting sweet food but I was really full from my soup in a bread bowl.  When I saw the strawberries with melted chocolate at Geloso Gelateria, I knew it was just what I needed.  Sylvia could not believe I paid $15 for the cup.  I had also looked longingly at the fruit crumbles, Dubai chocolate and Spiced Milo Bar's mocktails.  All of them were too filling for me and at least as expensive.  Th fresh fruit was lovely and I am also up for a bit of chocolate.

Creme Brulee, Queen Victoria Market Night Market, CBD

Sylvia really wanted a Son-in-Law bao.  After standing in the queue for ages, it hardly moved.  Someone told me we were in the wrong queu for sweet baos but when we moved queue we were told it was the pick up area.  Argh!  So we went to the Creme Brulee stall where they queue moved quickly.  She enjoyed her creme brulee but they were cold.  I appreciate this is a great way to get out food quickly to a crowd but it does not present the food in the best way. 

Sadie Black Cafe, Albion

We met Faye for lunch at Sadie Black Cafe at 31 Perth Avenue in a small local shopping strip.  I had Sadie's Salad with halloumi, blackened broccolini, roasted cauliflower, fava bean hummus, carrot quinoa, pomegranate dressing & cute wispy sweet potato crisps on top ($23).  Faye had a vegan version of the salad with tofu.  Sylvia had the Big Veggie Breakfast: fried eggs with mushrooms, avocado, tomato, house baked beans & potato rosti on sourdough toast. Sylvia said her eggs were done to perfection and the mushrooms were tiny.  She also loved the homemade baked beans and delicious crispy house made rostis.  We were very pleased with our choice of cafe.

Cinnabuns, Albion

While at the Albion shopping strip, we also dropped in to Cinnabuns next door at 29B Perth Avenue.  They bake interesting and decadent buns.  We took away a box with a delicious haul of blueberry scroll, cinnamon scroll and salted caramel sesame escargot for later.  We also had a browse in Mitko Deli and Cafe which we loved on a visit back in July 2024.

Listening to Richard Aitken's presentation on Gwen Jones: at the local historical society.  When Gwen Jones dies she left house stuffed with memories of her family's history and money for an historian and an archivist to make sense of it.  I loved hearing Richard telling her stories about life as a girl from Coburg travelling by ship to Europe, which he was able to recreate from the letters to and from her parents, the ship menus and friends' photos.  Such a delightful talk!

Kittens galore in Sunshine

We also went to the Sunshine Helping Hands op shop.  It was neater than previously but still fun to look through.  On the way back to the car we saw seven kitten and their mum in a front yard.  They were so cute and playful until it started to rain and most of them ran inside.  

Reading Tirra Lirra by the River.  In my final year of high school, I studied this novel by Jessica Anderson about a women returning to her home town of Brisbane after leaving town as a young women full of dreams.  We had a wonderful English teacher who made us curious.  I re-read the book every now and again because it is about living life to the full as a young woman and looking back as an older woman.  I used to read it from the young woman's perspective but now I find myself interested in how she looks back over her life.  While packing to paint, I finally found the book again and read it.  The writing is such a joy to read every time.

Pickles, Carlton North

We had lunch at Pickles milkbar which is all vegan.  I was a sucker for a special and had the Chrismas in July special with cranberry glazed fried chicken, gravy, cabbage and apple slaw and hot and sweet jam on focaccia.  Sylvia had the Sausage and Cheese: Breakfast sausage, fried tofu egg, hash brown, cheese, pickled onions, mayo and garlic butter on a toasted everything bagel.  We also had an impressive hot chocolate ganache with soy milk and and iced matcha latte.  

As I have said before, I am not really into mock meat so the huge slabs of mock chicken were a bit too much for me.  I quite liked the crispy cranberry glazed edges but would much have preferred tofu to mock meat.  Sylvie loved her sausage and cheese bagel.  The soy hot chocolate was the big hit for me.  It was intensely chocolate flavoured with lots of foam on top in a cute Pickles branded mug!

Smith and Deli, Collingwood

It has taken us ages to get back to Smith and Deli in 107 Cambridge Street, Collingwood.  I have written this month about Smith and Deli and how it has moved from a cramped deli in Fitzroy to a spacious warehouse in Collingwood.  Here is a birds eye photo of the good food we had on our last visit: miso and butterbean soup, salad plate, the Wiggum II, gingerbread latte, iced rhubarb matcha latte and doughnut holes. 

Back Alley Bakes, Coburg North

We went to Back Alley Bakes (10 Leslie Avenue) before a trip to Northland.  The food at shopping centre food halls depresses me.  I thought I would enjoy the trip better with lunch from a favourite bakery instead. There is always so much I want to try there.  I had an amazing savoury danish with peas, zucchini, feta and mint and a Morning bun with miso caramel and crispy corn flakes.  It was nice but a lot of custard filling and not so much of the caramel and cornflakes. I haven't had the morning buns before and was surprised at all the flakiness of the buns.  Sylvia tried the Basque cheesecake.  We both loved it but it was huge and would have been great with a nice fruity sauce, though understand it is less practical for takeaway.  All so much better than the food hall.  In the top photo you can see Sylvia's sushi pack at the food hall which she was very happy with.

Northland Shopping Centre, Preston.

I am sharing these fabrics that sylvia bought from Spotlight at Northland Shopping Centre.  She has plans for crafting with them.  Pretty fabrics are as difficult to resist as pretty scrap booking papers.  I was surprised at the main Northland building was so busy as in recent months it has had a machete attack, a stolen car speeding through the walkways and nazis protesting!  Seems even this will not stop us in our quest for convenience!


In the news:

Erin Patterson was found guilty of the unimaginable crime of poisoning four of her ex-husband's family with mushrooms in Gippsland.

I was impressed to hear the new Victorian police commissioner Mike Bush on ABC radio show concern for protecting protesters in their peaceful endeavors rather than painting them as pesky activists and extremists as most of the media seems to do.

Notable deaths were the iconic Brit heavy metal personality Ozzy Osbourne, cheeky chappy Aussie cook Peter Russel Clarke who we grew up watching before the Goodies each evening, and Allan Ahlberg whose books such as Each Peach Pear Plum, Peepo and the Jolly Postman were a joy to read over and over to Sylvia when she was little.

Are you experiencing posting ennui? The New Yorker, 9 July 2025.

Is Google (AI) about to destroy the web? on BBC News, 11 June 2025.
(If you want to opt out of Google AI, check out advice at https://tenbluelinks.org/.

Shakespearean, small-town murder: why Australia became so obsessed with the Erin Patterson mushroom case, in the Conversation, 7 July 2025.

History’s booming in podcasts – but many of its academics are out of a job, in The Age, 10 July 2025.

Envoys in glass houses: Jillian Segal’s position as antisemitism spokesperson is untenable, in Nick Feik's Substack on 15 July 2025.

12 years on, are we not yet tired of cruel policies towards asylum-seekers? Pearls and Irritations, 19 July 2025.

The hunger crisis inside Gaza will affect the news you see about the war, by Matthew Doran in ABC News, 24 July 2025.

Wednesday, 6 August 2025

In My Kitchen: July 2025

July saw lots of change as we continued to sort out the house after painting: a couple of new kitchen chains, the crockery back in our newly painted glass kitchen cabinet and a new fluro kitchen light.  If you want to check out how it was to have no kitchen light, in my Japanese cucumber salad post you can see the a photo of the kitchen lit by just the light over the stove - it was quite dark.  At work, an office I spend a day in a week moved to a lovely new building with lots of natural light and green decor.  

We also had school holidays, lots of amazing photos sent from my dad on his holiday in South America and a lot of flattening boxes as we unpacked.  My blog energy is a bit low but we have had some good meals, as you will see when you read on.

The top photo is an excellent meal inspired by the Banging Burger Bowl that I saw on the Annoyed Thyroid's In My Kitchen post last month.  I love how much inspiration I get from reading about others kitchens on blogs..  I had a beetroot and black bean burger from the supermarket and served it with lettuce, red capsicum, cherry tomatoes, purple cabbage, pink pickles and diced parmesan all with a creamy dressing drizzled over it.

Since making the burger salad, I have made quite s few variations of it, sometimes without the burger.  This combination of lots of vegetables tossed in a creamy dressing is just the easy sort of salad I want right now.  The intense salty unmami of the parmesan and the sweet and sour of the pickles gives it the lift it needs.  I have started to make the creamy dressing out of  yoghurt, balsamic vinegar, perhaps a little rice wine vinegar and pinch of salt and pepper.  This photo is of the salad with a crumpet for lunch in my home office.

A while back I bought a packet of red jasmine rice.  When I cooked it in my medium saucepan, I was surprised that it tasted more like brown rice than white jasmine rice.  I underestimated the size of the saucepan needed.  Fortunately the lid kept it together.  As you can see there is a lot of rice.  I put quite a few tubs of it in the freezer for rice-based meals.  It was like a short cut to make some favourite meals.  Below is the Avgolemono and Tahini and kale rice.  Not pictured was a Tofucado.

This Avgolemono was delicious with the red jasmine rice.  I am pleased that Sylvia is coming around to this wonderful vegan version of the Greek lemon soup.  It was amazing with all the fresh dill leftover from my excellent Feta dill rice gratin with Greek style stew.

I also used the red jasmine rice in a batch of Tahini lime rice with kale and cashews.  I used chickpeas instead of the cashews and packed it with vegies.  That creamy tahini lime sauce on the rice is heavenly.  

Another old favourite I made was a big pot of Scottish vegetable and barley soup.  I used more water than normal so it was less gluggy but a great winter warmer.  Barley is a fantastic winter grain.  We also made  a new barley recipe that I wrote about in my Tomato sausage barley soup.

We had another pot of Sausage and gnocchi and kale.  It is becoming a new favourite.  So creamy and flavourful with lots of greens.

For Christmas I was given a packet of Zaatar mix from a local favourite restaurant, Zaatar.   We have used it in a lovely zaatar cacio e pepe pasta (in my February In My Kitchen post) and Sylvi has occasionally had it with fried eggs but I am at a loss as to why it has taken us until July to try making a zaatar pizza.  It is so easy and delicious. 

To make zaatar pizza I just mixed the zaatar (1/2 cup) and olive oil (1/2 cup) and spread it on our regular fast track sourdough pizza base and baked in it a hot oven.  I love the smell and the taste of the crunchy mix of sesame seeds and herbs.  The dough is not quite as soft as the one from Zaatar restaurant but it is excellent to be able to make it at home.

 

The other notable pizza we've had recently was a creamy pesto and zucchini pizza.  I spread a mix of cream cheese and pesto on a fast track sourdough pizza base.  Two medium zucchini had been salted for 5-10 minutes and had as much liquid squeezed out of it as possible.  When squeezed it looks frilly and is easy to arrange on the cream cheese so it sits up and gets crispy when baked with a good handful of grated cheese and a bit of seasoning.  

There haven't been many new meals this month but this Tortilla Rice Bake was a winner.  It was based on a recipe called One Skillet Saucy Chicken Tortilla Enchilada Rice Bake but I had neither chicken or enchilada sauce.  But I did make it in one skillet with a tomato sauce full of Mexican seasoning, beans and vegies, the simmered the rice in it and baked it with cheese and corn chips on top.  When Sylvia came out and saw all the corn chips sticking up, she thought it looked like a hedgehog.  The recipe I was following called for serving it with yoghurt, avocado and coriander.  I had the yoghurt but added diced red capsicum and finely sliced savoy cabbage.  It looked pretty and gave the meal a nice freshness.  This is a meal I hope to repeat!


I bought a new plate with stylish Morroccan brown patterns.  You can see it here with one of my favourite comfort foods: sourdough toast with vegemite and leftover mashed potato.

Here are a couple of decadent sweet bakes from Bake Alley Bakes in North Coburg.  I had the quince danish with a creamy filling and bee pollen.  Sylvia had a slice of a coffee layer cake with hojicha buttercream and almond praline.  It was such a huge slice that she couldn't finish it.  I also bought a hi top sourdough loaf that was excellent.


New in my kitchen are these cute avocado salt and pepper shakers that my friend Kerin brought me home from her amazing holiday in Spain.


One of Sylvia's favourite online places to buy crystals has been Sparrow and Fox in Sydney.  She is very sad that they are closing.  The silver lining on this cloud are the bargains as they sell off their stock.  Also in the picture is a packet of vegan lollies (candies) from Pickles Milk Bar.  It was exciting to find lollies with no gelatine.  Sadly, the ants also loved the candy necklace from the pack.

It is so long ago that we bought a Book Nook craft kit that I was surprised when Sylvia finally decided to put it together.  It only took her two days to create this charming little arcade from a kit.  It was her first time doing a kit with lights that look so gorgeous when the booknook  is in the bookshelves.

Our kitchen chairs have got a bit shabby, especially the two remaining orange vinyl covered chairs from the set I bought with E soon after we were married.  (You can see them in better days with the full set in this kitchen post).  Even all the duct tape patches haven't saved them.  So we were happy to find a couple of blue vinyl chairs in an op shop to replace them.  I am sad to say farewell to the orange chairs but they the good times we have had with them are over.


Riding home on dark evenings gives me a keen sense of needing to be seen by other cars, cyclists and pedestrians.  I got a new bright fluro bicycle jacket (Bellwether velocity convertible jacket that converts from long sleeves to a vest) because my old one is faded, frayed and stained.  I feel very smart in my new jacket.  It also feels more likely to keep me dry if I get caught in the rain.  I just wish they made them in shaped for women's bodies!  My other indulgence was a new brighter front bike light (Azur Cove Usb Head Light 1000 Lumen) that makes it much easier to ride down a dark cobbled lane to the back gate on my bike.  Onwards and upwards!



And I am ending with a few photos from getting my kitchen back together after the painting.  The pantry is painted a lighter colour than before but it is pretty much back to the way it was, but the food is fresher now that some old packets have been thrown out.

This photo is from when I was unpacking a crockery and bric a brac after the painting.  It was all washed, even some of my little figurines that had got a bit dusty.  It is lovely to have everything washed and clean in the glass cabinets and on the lounge room shelves.

I am sending this post to Sherry of Sherry's Pickings for the In My Kitchen event. If you would like to join in, send your post to Sherry by 13th of the month.  Or just head over to her blog to visit more kitchens and her gorgeous hand drawn header.  Thanks to Sherry for continuing to host this even that brings together some wonderful bloggers who share glimpses into their kitchens.